Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Me, Boomer and The Vermilon River: Another Plethora of Colour on the Vermilon River. ...
Me, Boomer and The Vermilon River: Another Plethora of Colour on the Vermilon River. ...: "Male Evening Grosbeak. If you have followed this blog for any amount of time, you're aware of the incredible colours associated with ou..."
Another Plethora of Colour on the Vermilon River. A Post to WBW.
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| Male Evening Grosbeak. |
If you have followed this blog for any amount of time, you're aware of the incredible colours associated with our wilderness forest. But some are just over the top, and the Evening Grosbeak takes the prize on that score. The female shown below is an absolute beauty, but the male is nature at her best. Evening is, of course, a misnomer. The name was applied by early settlers who first observed this bird in western Canada in the evening. From western Canada, the mountains to be exact, they spread east until about 1850 they were observed in Toronto. They travel in flocks and one of their main sources of food is the spruce bud worm which is devastating NA soft wood forests on an increasing scale, caused by global warming.
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| Male Grosbeak. |
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| Male Grosbeak |
They tend to travel in flocks which like Redpolls show up and then move on. Not only are they a most colourful addition to the forest, although these guys showed up at my feeders, but in summer their beaks change to green reflecting the colour of spruce. I find that incredible also!!
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| Male Grosbeak. |
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| Close Up Of Green Beak. |
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| Colourful Rear View. |
This photo shows the colourful rear view of the male. And certainly with no need to apologize for colourful plumage, here is the female.
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| Female Grosbeak |
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| Female Grosbeak. |
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| Female Grosbeak. |
As I said alone, she is a splendid example of nature's incredible colour skills.
A Post to WBW @ http://pineriverreview.blogspot.com/
Just a quick note to acknowledge the problem with leaving notes on sites. I'm having the same problem with some sites. I think it's another Blogger hiccup.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Me, Boomer and The Vermilon River: WildFlowers of the Vermilon River. A Post to My Wo...
Me, Boomer and The Vermilon River: WildFlowers of the Vermilon River. A Post to My Wo...: " Woolly Violets The forest despite the lack of sun is coming alive in terms of wildflowers, many of which would be called weeds i..."
WildFlowers of the Vermilon River. A Post to My World Tuesday.
The forest despite the lack of sun is coming alive in terms of wildflowers, many of which would be called weeds in common parlance, but they are a wonderful addition to the forest floor. The others are the fruit trees or bushes, which are so necessary to the wild life's well being. There appears to be two violets the big ones and the small ones. The small ones are Woolly Violets; the others I don't know. All except the one opposite, and the photo I added below, are the big violets. Very scientific don't you think?
Woolly violets are about the size of your small finger nail. So these photos of them are all blown up.
These birch tree seeds are interesting in a forest with many birch trees.
The service berries are critical in the forest as they provide food for the birds and four legged wildlife. These are pin cherry trees which will produce a red berry, a bit tart, but which makes a wonderful jelly. Female Bears will bend the taller trees over for their cubs.
In particular the Waxwings, both Cedar and Bohemian will strip these trees in large flocks.
And I'll be there to watch their antics.
I included the crab apple blossoms, because they're a favourite of the local residents which is a bit funny because they along with garbage attract bears into town. And the people here are uncomfortable with bears and the forest, which is strange when you live in a forest.
All the clearings contain blueberry bushes which again feed the wildlife and me. They are picked also by locals to supplement their income. They are sold in better stores at a premium price. Although smaller, there is no comparison between a wild berry and a farm grown one. As well there are no end of stories of sharing a blueberry patch with a mama bear and her cubs.
I don't know what these yellow flowers are,but you can see how vivid, the forest starts to look with yellow and white together.
Even the dandelions shown below add to the brightness especially against the forest green.
This was a close up that just got put in the wrong place.
I had previously posted some Mourning Doves and Sparrows talking about browns and beige's. These Grosbeaks paid me a repeat visit while I was putting together this post. This post and their visit just shows the extremes in the forest- from browns to vivid colours. By the way he's wearing his summer beak which is green. Isn't that weird they change beak colours?
I'll post a full series of Evening Grosbeaks photos to World Bird Wednesday.
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| Woolly Violets |
The forest despite the lack of sun is coming alive in terms of wildflowers, many of which would be called weeds in common parlance, but they are a wonderful addition to the forest floor. The others are the fruit trees or bushes, which are so necessary to the wild life's well being. There appears to be two violets the big ones and the small ones. The small ones are Woolly Violets; the others I don't know. All except the one opposite, and the photo I added below, are the big violets. Very scientific don't you think?
Woolly violets are about the size of your small finger nail. So these photos of them are all blown up.
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| Big Violets |
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| Big Violets |
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| Birch Seed. |
These birch tree seeds are interesting in a forest with many birch trees.
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| Pin Cherry Trees. |
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| Pin Cherry Tress. |
In particular the Waxwings, both Cedar and Bohemian will strip these trees in large flocks.
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| Service Berries. |
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| Crab Apple Trees. |
I included the crab apple blossoms, because they're a favourite of the local residents which is a bit funny because they along with garbage attract bears into town. And the people here are uncomfortable with bears and the forest, which is strange when you live in a forest.
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| Crab Apple Trees. |
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| Flowering Blueberries |
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| Blueberry Flowers. |
All the clearings contain blueberry bushes which again feed the wildlife and me. They are picked also by locals to supplement their income. They are sold in better stores at a premium price. Although smaller, there is no comparison between a wild berry and a farm grown one. As well there are no end of stories of sharing a blueberry patch with a mama bear and her cubs.
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| Unknown |
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| Unknown. |
I don't know what these yellow flowers are,but you can see how vivid, the forest starts to look with yellow and white together.
Even the dandelions shown below add to the brightness especially against the forest green.
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| Dandelion |
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| Dandelion |
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| Dandelion. |
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| Big Violet Close Up. |
This was a close up that just got put in the wrong place.
I had previously posted some Mourning Doves and Sparrows talking about browns and beige's. These Grosbeaks paid me a repeat visit while I was putting together this post. This post and their visit just shows the extremes in the forest- from browns to vivid colours. By the way he's wearing his summer beak which is green. Isn't that weird they change beak colours?
I'll post a full series of Evening Grosbeaks photos to World Bird Wednesday.
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| Male Evening Grosbeak. |
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| Close Up Woolly Violets. |
A Post to My World Tuesday.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Various Shades of Brown of The Vermilon River. A Post to Camera Critters and Scenic Sunday.
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| Mourning Dove |
My feeders have been active,I think, because the leaves are out now, and the birds are more secure with the shelter of the leaves. I've recently posted a lot of very colourful birds, but as I've remarked several times the variations of browns and beiges in nature is fantastic. So today I decided to post some of those variations that have appeared at the feeders.
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| Mourning Dove |
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| Mourning Dove |
I really like visits from the mourning doves with their bobbing and cooing. But their colour scheme is also incredible, with its variations of beiges and browns.
The side view below shows the deep browns on the wings.
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| Mourning Dove |
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| White-throated Sparrow. |
The White-throated Sparrows are also basically brown and beige, but nature this time has added a vivid yellow highlighted with black and white.
Head on, the tree photo below shows how vivid the colour scheme is.
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| White-throated Sparrow. |
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| Sparrow |
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| Sparrow. |
Again these guys are showing their full colours.
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| Sparrow. |
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| Male Goldfinch. |
Some how this guy crept in. There is certainly nothing subtle about his colour scheme.
A Post to Camera Critters @ http://camera-critters.blogspot.com/ and to Scenic Sunday @ http://scenicsunday.blogspot.com/
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Me, Boomer and The Vermilon River: Storm Clouds of the Vermilon River. A Post to Sky ...
Me, Boomer and The Vermilon River: Storm Clouds of the Vermilon River. A Post to Sky ...: "Cumulus Building. The weather as I have said earlier is spotty with few sunny days, but several overcast and cold days. We've had frost ..."
Storm Clouds of the Vermilon River. A Post to Sky Watch Friday.
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| Cumulus Building. |
The weather as I have said earlier is spotty with few sunny days, but several overcast and cold days. We've had frost some mornings, and quick changes are the name of the game. The cumulus clouds are building quickly as this series of photos shows. They turned black and...
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| Building |
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| Building and Changing Colour. |
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| Looks Like an A-Bomb Cloud. |
The build was fast and the colour change was quick. These clouds look like atom bomb clouds shown in old movies. The sky stayed an intense blue.
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| Still turning and Building. |
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| Growing and Blackening. |
The clouds below look like they're turning on themselves in a great roll back.
Then, there was a great flash followed by a roaring bang. No repeats, no rain, that was it! Who said nature doesn't like a great show.
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| Growing |
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| Male Tree Swallow |
After the great hike to Mystic Lake, things were active around here as well; as, these tree swallows appear to have found a home in the bush just behind us. It's all the same bush sometimes we just take the one closest to us for granted. These guys are normally in flocks but these two were alone. His flashing blue plumage is really something.
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| Female Tree Swallow |
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| Mourning Dove. |
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| Mourning Dove. |
As well the Mourning Doves have started to visit us which is a welcome addition on the home front.
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| Male and Female Goldfinch. |
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| Male and Female Goldfinch. |
I think the weather has been so bad these Goldfinch are attracted by the free food, and shelter that the new leaves on the tree afford.
So we have our home visitors and our forest wildlife all lined up.
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| Male Goldfinch. |
A Post to Sky Watch Friday @ http://skyley.blogspot.com/
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